Halfball but not half-hearted

Chasing a long fly ball off the bat of Mel Saluck, Gene Callahan (no relation) watched half a rubber ball land in the grass and called out “double.”

Saluck didn’t need to run any bases to get the hit. Why? It wasn’t because he split the ball in half.

It’s because there are no bases in halfball.

Halfball was an immensely popular version of baseball in the streets of Camden and Philadelphia in the 1930s to 1950s. On this recent Wednesday night in Voorhees, a group of more than 20 men who were mostly in the their 60s and 70s were reliving their youth playing halfball off of Centennial Mill Road. A league was started in April.

“Back in our day, this was the big thing in the neighborhood,” Callahan, who grew up in West Philadelphia, said. “Very few of the kids could afford a pimple ball — they were 5 cents — so we would cut them in half.”

The men playing the game now could probably afford to buy a pimple ball company. Most have retired after successful business careers for years now and live in this immaculately manicured community.

“Yeah, it does make me feel young,” Callahan, who at 83 is the oldest player in the league, said. “And, it is a way get to know each other.”

The game of halfball is played with a bat that is an inch and a quarter in diameter and a pimple ball that is cut in half and two and a half inches wide. Pitchers throw the ball sidearm while batters really just try to make contact with the spinning saucer.

When the ball is hit, there are designated areas for a single, double, triple and home run. There are no bases, so there is no running. Two strikes and you are out, too, in this league.

“This is the perfect game for us,” Bernie Miller, 60, said. “You don’t have to do anything but hit the ball and pitch.”

Miller grew up in Southwest Philly playing halfball. He recently attended a neighborhood reunion and the talk centered on him playing again.

The game lost its popularity when families began moving out of the cities and into the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s.

There are four teams in the league with an average of six players on each team. All the players are from Centennial Mill, which is a senior community in Voorhees.

Each team plays once a week — on Wednesday night — at 6 p.m.

“It is great camaraderie really,” Callahan said.

The formation of the league is the brainstorm of Callahan and Gene Loielo.

“We were discussing childhood sports and halfball came up. We both said it would be fun to relive the game and a league was formed,” Loielo, who serves as the commissioner, said. “The average age of our players is around 70 years old with quite a few guys in their 80s.”

Sue Rokes, the lifestyle director at Centennial Mill, had never heard of halfball.

“They had to bring me a ball and show me,” Rokes said.

It wasn’t difficult to get the older guys to play, but finding pimple balls was a problem.

“I went to several stores here in South Jersey to buy pimple balls and none of the store employees knew what I was talking about,” Loielo said. “I finally had to go online and research halfball and found someone who sold them in South Philadelphia.”

The games are seven innings long and take about an hour to play. They play on a grass court in the neighborhood. Four poles are placed about every 10 yards apart to signify singles to homers.

“This is awesome,” Mary Gallagher, the property manager at Centennial Mill, said after stopping to watch a game. “They started this and look at all the fellows out there.”

HOW TO PLAY

GAME: The halfball is thrown sidearm to the batter, who tries to make contact. The hitter hits to designated areas marked single, double, triple, home run. There are no bases. Swing and miss, you are out. Catch the halfball off the wall or house, you are out.

BATS: Official bats are 41 inches long and 1.25 inches in diameter.

HALFBALLS: Official halfballs are 2.5 inches in diameter — half of a pimple ball.

Source: From Halfball.com

About Kevin Callahan

Now in 30th year writing for the Courier-Post, including 28 years in sports. Currently writing columns on the Philly pro sports scene.

Pimple ball and halball.com. Please do yourself a favor and do not order pimple balls from this site. John Kodis owner of the site has not been able to ship the pimple balls he claims are being made in China. When I asked for a refund, he came up with excuse after excuse. It took me several phone conversations in which he yells at you and a few months to get my refund.

The best advice I can give you is to keep calling him and demand a refund.You can also google John Kodis American Legion baseball and get a list of email addresses and email John’s fellow Legion members to inform them of his disregard for other peoples hard earned money.Good luck!

John Kodis is a Zone Commissioner for district 8 American Legion baseball I believe the phone number is 781-871-6076 give him a call and ask him why we can put a man on the moon but he can’t make a pimple ball?

Sounds like people are getting scammed with companies pretending to manufacture them and sell them. It sad because it seems like there is so much demand for them too.

This makes me wonder how much they would actually go for if they were readily available. How much would you pay for single ball, or even a pack of 10 or 20 balls? Would you pay $5, $10, maybe $15 a ball? Seems like people are crazy for these pimple balls haha.

We found the molds for the old pimple balls and it took five years to get some samples made. They made a blue sponge ball instead of the old pimple balls.

I grew up in Logan and it was a part of my life.

We currently sell half balls and X-Jock and Future Jock T-shirts to.
Please feel free to contact me to learn why the pimple will be a memory, but not available in the future, It was a 10 year quest to discover this

The pimple balls are done and you can order at retro philly.com. I know people are complaining about the 5.95 price tag plus shipping but you can’t put a price on a game of stickball with a real pimple ball.

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